It's Not a Dog-Eat-Dog World, It's a Dog-Adopt-Dog World

Credit: Allie Wilkinson

President Obama isn’t the only one interested in adopting a dog these days.  In fact, dogs are now adopting other dogs.

African wild dogs, one of Africa’s most endangered carnivores, are now adopting orphaned pups of their own kind.  Also known as the painted dog or painted wolf, there are only 3,000 to 5,000 African wild dogs remaining in the wild.  Aside from having to deal with competition from other, larger predators; one of their biggest difficulties as a species is lack of genetic diversity.  Now scientists are facilitating adoptions of orphaned pups by unrelated packs of African wild dogs in Botswana.

In three different cases, a total of eleven orphaned African wild dog pups were released within view of a smaller than average wild pack.  Each time, the pups were soon approached by the dominant female of that pack, and within minutes, the orphaned pups were adopted cared for and fed by the dominant female.  In one case, the pups got scared and ran away from the pack, almost immediately.  Yet even after such a brief introduction, the adoptive pack then began to scour the area to find the missing pups.  Once reunited, the pups were greeted as if they were missing family members.  All three packs showed a willingness to take in the orphaned pups, no questions asked.

The study, published in the South African Journal of Wildlife Research, now provides conservationists with a better understanding as to how they can use facilitated adoptions as a conservation tool in the wild.

Credit: Allie Wilkinson

Adoptions not only help to make the pack larger, but also help increase the genetic diversity of the species.  All adopted pups were males, taken in by the dominant female of the pack.  Scientists believe that the reason the pups were taken in so readily by the dominant female is that she realizes how valuable they are for the future of the pack, as potential mates for herself, or her daughters.

Perhaps mother really does know best.

Botswana Predator Conservation Program

Botswana Predator Conservation Trust

Painted Wolf Wines

McNutt, J., Parker, M., Swarner, M., & Gusset, M. (2008). Adoption as a conservation tool for endangered African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) South African Journal of Wildlife Research, 38 (2), 109-112 DOI: 10.3957/0379-4369-38.2.109